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Savannah Rock 'n' Roll Marathon traffic to head downtown

Downtown Savannah will look more like St. Patrick’s Day and less like Judgment Day during this year’s Savannah Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon.

Organizers will not utilize Savannah Mall’s 4,000-space parking lot as the Nov. 3 race’s main parking area as they did a year ago. Those runners and spectators will be directed to downtown garages, surface lots and metered street spaces instead, as well as shuttle lots located at Tybee Island and the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport.

The intent is for the plan to better serve both the runners and the downtown businesses than last year’s remote parking strategy, which gave the historic district what one downtown business owner described as a “ghost town” feel.

“Downtown had a lot of underutilized parking last year, and for the participants it’s much more appealing to be able to walk to the start line or walk to your car after the finish than get on a shuttle,” said Malain McCormick, event director for The Competitor Group. “Downtown is where they want to be and we have been working on the perfect plan to accommodate them.”

Downtown has more than 7,000 parking spots between five garages, six surface lots and the parking meters. The Competitor Group and the city of Savannah are working together to pre-sell garage passes to participants.

Depending on how those sales go, organizers may also utilize space along the Hutchinson Island race track and in its pit and paddock area as a remote parking area on race morning. Those runners would then be ferried across the Savannah River to the start line on Bay Street.

Moving and parking thousands of vehicles downtown in a short span of time will present challenges, said Lt. David Gay with Savannah-Chatham police. But the department is well-versed at handling a crush of vehicles for other large events, such as St. Patrick’s Day and the July 4th fireworks.

“One advantage the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon gives us is they can tell us how many runners they have so we know what to expect, whereas we don’t sell tickets for St. Patrick’s Day or Fourth of July,” Gay said. “And the marathon is one of the more fun deals we do in terms of events. The people are good to work with and thankful for the work we’re doing.”

Count Savannah Mall’s management and tenants among those thankful for the revised plan. The mall lot overflowed early on race day morning, leaving no spaces for store employees, let alone shoppers, to park, according to the mall’s general manager, Phil McConell. The lot didn’t start to empty until almost 4 p.m., and few of the runners and spectators visited the mall upon returning to their cars.

“The rationale for doing it was people would come in and get something to eat or drink or go shopping,” McConnell said. “They didn’t. People were tired from a long day and got in their cars and went home.”

Marathon organizers also unveiled logistical plans Monday regarding the pre-race Health and Fitness Expo staged at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center. Participants must visit the expo to pick up their bib numbers and race packets, and most waited until Friday afternoon to do so last year.

The crush overwhelmed the convention center parking area and traffic gridlocked across the Talmadge Bridge and into downtown Savannah.

To prevent a repeat, organizers will stage several events on Thursday, including hourly giveaways and a free concert on the convention center lawn. The aim is to draw as many participants as possible — particularly those who live locally — to the expo on Thursday.

Only 2,900 of the more than 19,600 participants in last year’s race visited the expo on Thursday.

“The reality is we have only one bridge, and if thousands try to get to the expo all at once, it’s going to be slow going no matter what,” Visit Savannah Executive Director Joe Marinelli said. “If we can incentivize the locals to come in on Thursday and those flying in for the race to come in Thursday night and hit the expo on Friday morning, that should alleviate most of the problems.”

Organizers are encouraging those runners who do plan to come to the expo on Friday to park downtown and take the ferries across the river. Chatham Area Transit is expected to have four ferries in service that day and The Competitor Group has contracted with the 600-person capacity Savannah River Queen to shuttle participants to the convention center from River Street as well.

“We always want to make race weekend as smooth and convenient for participants and the community as possible,” The Competitor Group’s McCormick said. “Certainly, we learned a great deal in our inaugural year and are confident that we’ve made the proper adjustments to better accommodate everyone at the expo, as well as race morning.”